Liechtenstein-based VP Bank's CEO, Paul Arni, intends to tap fresh revenue streams and raise profitability by continuing with the bank's strategic restructuring.
The banking industry is being forced to change by a market environent in which global assets under management had grown by around 44 percent since 2018 but banks' and asset managers' revenues had fallen, VP Bank CEO Paul Arni said at a press confernence in Zurich Tuesday on the banks' first-half results.
«We are seeing a change in generations to the digital natives,» Arni said, adding that customers were thinking in a more digital way and had new, and often very individual investment and financial goals.
VP Bank was responding to this with new products and was aiming to exploit new sources of income.
New Products
The new services would be more modular and would also include products offered by third parties.
They would also be open to those who did not have an account or custody account relationship with VP Bank.
«However, the existing business will remain at the core of everything we do,» Arni added.
Despite digitalization and new ways of communicating having intensified in the course of the pandemic, personal advice remained a central element.
«You don't gain people's confidence via the Internet,» Arni said. In the first half of the year, the bank had already made a lot of progress. For example, with Roger Barmettler as the new CFO and Patrick Bont as Chief Risk Officer, all positions on the Executive Board were now filled.
Risk management had been modernized and was being run along new guidelines. In Asia, the management team had been restructured. In July, Pamela Hsu Phua took over as the new head of Asia and other key positions had also been filled, Arni said.
Asia Seen as Growth Market
Arni said he saw Asia as the most important growth market. The cooperation with Hywin Wealth Management there and the equity investment in Hywin Holdings were further important stages in the development of the Asian business.
The acquisition of Öhman Bank's customer business was driving its operations in the Luxembourg and Scandinavian markets.
«Orbit» launch August 23
The Client Solutions division, which was newly created in 2020, had completed the preparatory work on the launch of the «Orbit» ecosystem in the first half.
It would be launched on August 23. The platform is meant to provide easy access to the private market assets, in which it had so far been difficult to invest.
New products such as the digitization of works of art and other non-bankable assets would complement the product range.
Arni, who took over as CEO in October 2019, confirmed the medium-term targets until 2026. By then, consolidated net income is expected to hit 100 million Swiss francs ($109 million) and the cost/income ratio a maximum of 70 percent. However, he added that he did not expect this to happen in a linear manner.
